Tag Archives: my life

I had my 6 week follow up appointment today. You know, to check on how I’m doing after having little Camden. To tell me I can resume normal workouts, etc…

Yes, workouts. As if I knew anything about working out.

Well, my first appointment, the 3 week follow up was pretty freaking spectacular. I found out that I’d lost 20 lbs of pregnancy weight! Hallelujah! The smile on my face was enormous. The weight off my tummy was melting away. I was one happy girl.

That was until this morning.
When the scale told me I’d packed on 4 lbs.
In 3 weeks.

Now I get it…I’m at home all day long. I’m eating foods that I couldn’t eat during my pregnancy. I’m drinking drinks I couldn’t drink. But does all of that warrant gaining 4 lbs in 3 weeks? I don’t think so.

So I’m going to have to find a way to be neurotic. No wine. No soda. No chips. No happiness.
And I let the doctor know that my pre-pregnancy weight wasn’t good enough. That I wanted to be 10lbs lighter than that. So you know what she did? She gave me a goal. A goal to lose 15 to 20 lbs by mid December. Yeah, I’m used to the numbers on the scale going up…not down. So this should be interesting.

And did I mention that I don’t work out? Oh boy kids…you might want to buckle in. This is going to be one bumpy ride.

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It’s certainly been a while since I’ve visited this place. The last month has flown by like I never could have imagined. Getting ready for a baby is not exactly an easy task. Actually, the mental part is far more daunting than you could ever imagine. The gaining weight part was easy. It was everything else that was so hard to handle.

But…like every other soon to be parents, we did manage to handle it.
We still are handling it (just with a lot of help from family…)

And here we are- with an 18 day old little boy that has totally rocked our world. From the moment I heard his first cry, I was in love. Didn’t even know that was possible…to love something/someone you’d never met. But it is. And it’s amazing.
Terrifying, but the most wonderful thing ever.

Some of you have seen pictures, his name…so forgive me for resharing all of this, but it’s kind of nice to be able to post it all here so that I can look back years to come and relive this little stuff.

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You’ll have to forgive me for including some non-food related posts on to this little blog, but some of my most recent food making attempts have turned out less than stellar.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the nursery was under way, but things were still far from done and nothing had been photographed. Well, it’s still not completely finished, but I did manage to snap a few select shots last night. These are more or less just the accessories, but honestly, these are my favorite features of Baby O’s soon to be room.
These owls are honestly just about the sweetest things I’ve ever seen. I made the decision to include owls a while back…not really sure how or why owls became a pseudo theme for the room, but they did. And these little fellas make me realize I made the right choice.
These little guys were handmade by a very dear friend.

The raindrop print I found in another nursery online and I instantly became obsessed. I made a rainy day mobile to complement the print, but it’s not hanging so you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s cute. And did I mention, handmade? By me? I know. Nuts, right?

And lastly, the family photos. I wanted our little guy to be surrounded by the people who will love him most in the world…and yes, that includes our dogs, or rather, the puppy versions of Libby and Justice. The photos took up a ton of wall space, but I couldn’t be happier with the finished product.

Now, just a few more weeks until Baby O will officially be here – hopefully loving this room as much as we do.

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Things are definitely in the home stretch with this pregnancy. Today I hit the 34 week mark. Yeap, horrifyingly close.

We’re also in the home stretch of finishing up the nursery. And while I would love to post some pictures of it, I haven’t exactly taken any. So, I decided to at least share a little idea of one of the things that will be in the nursery- family photos. Or rather, young photos of the soon to be grandparents and well, Ashley and me. I haven’t gotten all of the photos in yet, but here’s what I have so far:

{that’s Ashley at 3}

{yeap, that would be me…also at 3. should I be worried that ashley and i had the same haircut?}

{and my mom…in what appears to be one of the cutest and most creative outfits I have ever seen}.

I promise to post photos of the actual nursery soon…guess I might want to finish it first. And good news…I actually baked the other day. And took photos of it! Stay tuned, I may actually have a food post soon!

xoxo-

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Since I’ve even pulled up this little blog. As you know, life has gone and turned itself upside down. Being pregnant is well, it’s exhausting. I kind of thought that one of the perks of being pregnant would be to have crazy random cravings…you know, the kind I could blog about. And you could make fun of me for. Sadly, that hasn’t happened. Now, to be fair, I will confess that my love of chocolate has increased exponentially, but I kind of just blame that on the fact that I’m still trying to make sure the Easter candy doesn’t go to waste. Because that would be wrong.

And bad.

So I must eat it. Reese’s peanut butter eggs and all.

But I had to say that I have missed you. And I promise I will make more of a concerted effort to blog more. And not in a “mommy-blogger” kind of way (you know who you are missy). I figure that even though I’ll be tending to a newborn very soon, I may (God willing) have some time to bake…and test out new recipes. And let’s be honest, my camera will be coming out of retirement. Hope the cobwebs will come off. So I’ll most certainly need to practice taking photos on food too, right? Then again, it may be all diet food. Because homegirl is gonna have to lose some serious lbs.

Hope you all are well.

xoxo-

katie.

{ps. i apologize for the lack of pictures. i know reading without photos is like totally lame.}

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It’s so rare that I sit behind my home computer anymore. Honestly, these days with work the way it is (insane), the thought of getting back onto a computer sounds about as appealing as having my head shaved. Thus the reason I stay away. Kind of sad actually, because I was given this recipe almost exactly a month ago. I know, I’m pathetic.

Adjust oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 350 degrees.Pan prep/trick for easy removal:Spray 13 x 9-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fold two 16-inch pieces of parchment paper or foil lengthwise so that one piece measures 9 inches wide and the other measures 13 inches wide.Lay one piece along the length of the pan then the other one across the width of the pan. Make sure to press the paper or foil down into the corners so they lie flat. What you are going for is to have the pieces criss-crossed with rather clean corners in the pan . . . but with extra length hanging over each side. The extra length makes “handles” to remove the blondies after cooking and cooling. Spray the sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Whisk the melted butter and sugars together in a medium bowl until combined. Add the eggs (beat first) and vanilla and mix well.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. Fold in the semisweet and white chocolate chips and nuts, if using.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Use the spatula to gently pull the batter into the corners and try to get a uniform thickness.

Bake until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool the pan completely on a wire rack. Remove the blondies from the pan using the foil or parchment handles and transfer to a cutting board.

Use a large bread or serrated knife to cut into 20 or 24 bars and serve. Hint: To have clean edges, you can use the knife to trim all the way around the bars before cutting into squares.

*Okay, I have to admit, I didn’t follow this recipe exactly. I used bleached flour and light brown sugar because well, I had them on hand. However, even though they tasted fantastic, they weren’t as great as my friend Mark’s version. So yeah, you might want to actually use the ingredients that the recipe calls for.

*Ps. I wish I could say I didn’t eat one of those blondies in the photo. Well, actually, technically, I didn’t eat one. Nope. I ate them all.

As you know, things have been a little quiet on the blogging front for me over the past few months. Work and life have been hectic and so I haven’t had as much time to spend in the kitchen baking fun, tasty things. The past three weekends I’ve actually been baking. Now, they were nothing but whoopie pies, which I’ve made before, but hey, at least I’m back in the kitchen. See, being in the kitchen does actually make me happy.

Exhibit A:

So that’s why I’m working on two new recipes. I have to see which one suits me best, but it could be a few weeks before I know for sure.